The Ham Nomads

18 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Bowness-on-Windermere, & Near Sawrey, Ambleside; Kirkby Lonsdale, Carnforth, Cumbr —

Today was to be a Beatrix Potter day. So as not to have the same parking problems as yesterday, we got ourselves moving quickly, and were in Bowness-on-Windermere, in the carpark opposite the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction, by 9am. (Just as well - when we came out at 12 noon, the place was as bad as yesterday!) The attraction didn't open until 10, so we had breakfast in the van, then wandered a few of the shops - Susie finding a lovely warm green top on sale, so she pampered herself!

At 10, we went into the Beatrix Potter thing. It has a whole series of exquisite models illustrating Beatrix Potter's 23 'little' books. It's mainly for the kids — but, let's face it, when it comes to Beatrix Potter, aren't we all little kids at heart? Photography is not only allowed throughout, it is positively encouraged! — Warren had a field day! There is a small garden outside that emulates Mr McGregor's garden (the one in which Peter Rabbit got into so much trouble), and there is even the scarecrow with Peter's blue jacket and shoes! This garden is meticulously tended — they take great pride in it. They even put an entry into the Chelsea Flower Show this year, doing the same thing — it won first prize! We watched one of the gardeners going through the garden, meticulously removing every leaf that was even a little past its prime.

After spending 2 hours here, we went on round the bottom of Lake Windermere and, after a couple of false turns (into roads that were hair-raising to say the least), we found ourselves at Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse in the village of Near Sawrey. Entry to the house itself is by timed ticket, and we had 1¼ hours to wait, so we first went into the local pub — the Tower Bank Arms, which appears in the Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. After a little internal sustenance there, we went out and explored the village, most of which appears in the illustrations of one or more of Beatrix Potter's little books. We looked at Anvil Cottage (The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, p.67), the Post Box (Peter Rabbit's Almanac, February), Meadowcroft (Ginger and Pickles' shop in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, p.18), Tower Bank Arms (The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, p.42), the Old Post Office (The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan, p.19) and the side gate to Hill top, Tom Kitten's Gate (The Tale of Tom Kitten, p.30). There were also other views we found of the village that appear in the books.

the Post Box

Meadowcroft (Ginger and Pickles' shop)

Tom Kitten's Gate

The Old Post Office

The village street

Tower Bank Arms

Anvil Cottage

We then wandered her garden, which has been maintained very much the way she left it. There is an interesting mix of flowering plants and vegetables — particularly marrows and pumpkins — on the way up to the cottage, and there is a walled kitchen garden further back, which contains a good crop of rhubarb amongst other things. The gates into the farm itself are closed, as this is still a working farm!

The Rhubarb Patch

When we got to go into the house, which was an eccentric lady's hideaway, exactly as Beatrix Potter left it in 1944. There are even a couple of rat holes proudly on display — she had taken two years to rid herself of these pests, finally capturing 96 of them. They were the inspiration for her book The Tale of Two Bad Mice — she wasn't prepared to inflict anything as nasty as rats on her young readers! Many of the objects within Hill End have found their way into the illustrations of her books, and it is a fascinating puzzle to try to identify them! Beatrix was a bit of a hoarder, and had a habit of buying strange things in shops and jumble sales as she saw them. She had bought a lot of door knockers, for example, and then went about putting a knocker on every door in the house — rooms, cupboards, you name it! Warren suggested to the guide that perhaps it was so she could knock on the doors of the mice in her house, to be courteous and not interrupt them unawares. The guide said that was a good idea, and he might use it as he was explaining things to children!

We had a wonderful Beatrix Potter day, but all good things have to come to an end. We left Hill Top, and drove round the top of Windermere -- along a narrow road, behind a bus that was over half the width of the road, which was okay until it met a truck of similar dimensions! -- through Ambleside again and this time out to Kendal, where we did a little shop. Leaving Morrison's, we were caught in a diversion which took us into some nightmarish roads, so we retracked. On the way back, our right rear indicator blew, so we went into Halford's (beside Morrison's) to get replacements. Then we drove out towards York for the next stage of our journey, and have parked off in a layby not far southwest of Kendal, near a village called Kirkby Lonsdale.

Distance driven — today, 70 miles ( 112 km ); to date, 5,985 miles ( 9,632 km )